Chelsea and Barcelona tipped to make swap deal for Jorginho and Pjanic this summer

Martin Macdonald

• Updated: 19 May 2021 15:43 BST
• 2 min read

Reports from Spain have suggested that Chelsea and Barcelona could pull off a swap deal this summer with Jorginho and Miralem Pjanic swapping clubs.

Pjanic was a summer signing at Camp Nou, with the Blaugrana shelling out over €60 million to sign a player who at that time had just turned 30 and who was not enjoying his best form in Turin.

READ MORE: Jorginho’s agent reveals when his client will leave Chelsea

Young midfielder Arthur Melo went in the other direction for an initial fee of €72 in a deal which which has been clouded by creative accounting accusations.

It has proved to be a failure of a both for both Barcelona and Pjanic.

The deal to bring the Bosnian to Catalunya was already concluded before current head coach Ronald Koeman replaced Quique Setien at the helm, meaning the Dutchman had a new signing on his hands he didn’t ask for.

That has shown, as Pjanic has started just 13 matches in the 2020/21 campaign with only six of those coming in La Liga.

Koeman started the season playing two central midfielders in Sergio Busquets and Frenkie de Jong, and even after changing to a 3-5-2 Pjanic still can’t get in the team, with wonderkid Pedri taking up the other role in the middle.

Nearly a year after joining, Pjanic has already been linked with a transfer away in the upcoming window.

What about Jorginho?

According to the report from Sport, Barcelona are keen to offload Pjanic and bring another central midfielder in, and have allegedly identified Chelsea’s Jorginho as a potential acquisition.

However, the Spanish outlet’s report only mentions in passing that Jorginho has been one of the best midfielders in Europe since the turn of the year, particularly since Thomas Tuchel took over from Frank Lampard at Stamford Bridge.

The Italy international is enjoying his best form in a Chelsea shirt and has been a major contributing factor in their progress to the top four in the Premier League, the FA Cup final, and the Champions League final.

Why Chelsea would even entertain the notion of swapping Jorginho for Pjanic at this point in their respective careers really is anyone’s guess, because it won’t happen.

Last week Jorginho’s agent mapped out the next few years of his career – the next two will be spent at Chelsea before he returns to Italy, possibly with Napoli.